Title: Estimating optimum container and vessel fleet sizes in a cyclic liner service using a holistic approach

Authors: Ioannis N. Lagoudis, Stylianos N. Fragkos, Nikolaos A. Litinas

Addresses: Department of Shipping Trade and Transport, University of the Aegean, 2A Korai Str., 82100, Chios, Greece; Research and Development Department, XRTC Ltd. – Business Consultants, 3 E. Chandris Str., 82100, Chios, Greece. ' Ministry of Economy and Finance of Greece, Administration of Evaluation and Auditing of Private Investments, Nikis 5-7, 10180 Sintagma, Athens, Greece. ' Department of Shipping Trade and Transport, University of the Aegean, 2A Korai Str., 82100, Chios, Greece

Abstract: The management of container fleets, regardless of type and size, is a rather costly operation. A number of strategies are present in the literature intending to efficiently and effectively tackle container utilisation emphasising on the position and allocation of empty containers. These strategies can be roughly categorised in two main groups of studies: container fleet management and fleet size planning. In this paper, a more holistic approach takes place by merging the problems of optimum vessel and container fleet size. The paper develops a model which intends to identify the factors that affect container utilisation in order to enable the effective and efficient operation and control minimising container idle time. Results indicate that the development of such a model can assist container shipping companies in improving their operations since decision-making processes relevant to container fleet size, vessel capacity utilisation, scheduling and frequency of service provided by the operators can be improved.

Keywords: shipping logistics; container fleet management; optimum vessel sizes; cyclic liner services; holistic approaches; optimisation; fleet size planning; idle time; vessel capacity utilisation; scheduling; service frequency; algorithms; transport logistics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTL.2010.029894

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 2010 Vol.2 No.1, pp.4 - 21

Published online: 02 Dec 2009 *

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